Costain Group Share News (COST)

(Alliance News) - Construction firm Costain Group PLC on Monday said its performance was resilient in the first half of 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic with all contracts now operational.

Costain expects to report an operating profit, before the A465 and Peterborough & Huntingdon contracts, of GBP5.7 million for the first half. Both the Transportation and Natural Resources divisions remain profitable. The company reported an underlying operating profit of GBP21.2 million for the first half of 2019.

Costain said its order book stood at GBP4.2 billion at June 30 and has over GBP1 billion of work on its frameworks.

Costain has a strong balance sheet, with net cash of GBP140.9 million as at June 30.

Following the A465 contract and the Peterborough & Huntingdon contract, the company will no longer pursue energy performance certificate contracts and will focus more largely on long term investment programmes as opposed to one off capital projects.

Chief Executive Alex Vaughan said: "We now have a strong balance sheet, over GBP2 billion of contracts and frameworks secured and confirmed in the period and continue to have a growing pipeline of opportunities. I am confident that we are well placed to deliver significant growth in profit in 2021."

Costain will now announce its half year results on September 14.

Costain shares were down 4.4% at 55.00 pence each on Monday morning in London.

By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.